Background on Suicide Pilot

More details are becoming available about the man investigators say flew his small, single-engine airplane full-speed into an Austin building just before 10:00 Thursday morning.

*Update The pilot's car has been found at Georgetown airport. Unconfirmed reports now state a note was found inside, stating there was a bomb at the airport. The airport has been locked down.

The pilot has been identified as 53 year old software engineer Joseph Andrew Stack of San Marcos. Shortly before the crash, Stack is believed to have written a multipage manifesto ranting about his disgust with the government and the Internal Revenue Service. The letter was signed Joe Stack (1956-2010) and dated February 18, 2010.

The FBI is investigating whether the IRS offices in the building were the target and are investigating this as a "willful act."

According to California Secretary of State records, Stack had a troubled business history, twice starting software companies in California that ultimately were suspended by the state's Franchise Tax Board.

In 1985, he incorporated Prowess Engineering, Inc. in Corona, CA. Two years later it was suspended. In 1995, he started Software Systems Service Corp. in Lincoln, NE. That entity was suspended in 2001. Stack was listed as chief executive officer of both companies.

Investigators say after a fight with his wife Thursday morning, local police were dispatched to a domestic disturbance call at his house. Investigators also believe that around 9:15 AM CST, Stack set fire to his own house with his wife and daughter inside, then headed to the Georgetown airport, north of Austin, where the plane was located.

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